On new year's day, Su Hang woke up early. He took Mother Shen's words to heart and slept early last night. A soft morning kiss fell on the still sleeping Shen Xi's face, then Su Hang got up and change his clothes.
"Mr. Su, happy new year." A maid saw Su Hang taking a walk in the yard and greeted him with a smile.
"Happy new year." In a good mood, Su Hang replied with a small nod.
Although Mother Shen told Su Hang to get up early, she herself only managed to wake up half an hour before breakfast. When Su Hang finished his walk and entered the house, he saw Mother Shen and Father Shen sitting in the living room. With a chuckle, Mother Shen said: "I heard you got up quite early today."
"Getting up early during the first day of the new year is good luck." Su Hang smiled back.
Mother Shen felt at ease after hearing Su Hang's words. Happy and a little bit worried, she asked: "You've just been discharged from the hospital, and you stayed up late last night. Waking up so early, aren't you tired?"
"I'm not tired. And the air this morning was very refreshing." Su Hang replied.
"Good, good." Mother Shen uttered the word several times in delight. She then took out a big red envelope from her pocket and handed it to Su Hang. "Here, your new year's envelope."
Su Hang blinked, unsure show to react.
"Take it." Seeing Su Hang's lack of movement, Mother Shen couldn't help but press it towards him.
"Uh...thank you, mom." Su Hang accepted the envelope in a daze.
Mother Shen nodded, her right hand quietly poking Father Shen beside her. Father Shen coughed, then awkwardly handed Su Hang another red envelope. "This is from me."
"Thank you, dad." Su Hang was once again surprised. But since he had already experienced this shock just moments before, he managed to recover more quickly. Su Hang accepted the envelope, saying his thanks once more. He didn't know what else to do. What was the etiquette for this? Should he say a few auspicious words? Or even maybe give a red envelope of his own? President Su, who had never received a red envelope before, was feeling deeply entangled.
"What are you doing?" At this moment, Shen Xi came down the stairs. She was wearing a bright red sweater, making Su Hang think that she looked entirely like a red envelope herself.
Shen Xi saw the two thick envelopes Su Hang was holding and asked: "From my parents?"
"Un." Su Hang foolishly nodded.
"And mine?" At Su hang's nod, Shen Xi immediately asked for a red envelope from her parents.
"How old are you, ah? Still asking for red envelopes." Mother Shen laughed and slapped Shen Xi's outstretched hand.
"How come he gets to have them?" Shen Xi grumbled, pretending to be jealous.
"This is the first time Su Hang is celebrating the new year in our home. Of course we have to give him some red envelopes. It's called an 'entering the family' envelope." Mother Shen explained.
(T/N: literal translation is a monetary gift for entering the household after marriage. So a 'welcome to the family gift.')
After Su Hang saw that Shen Xi wanted a red envelope, he had first intended to directly hand his two envelopes to Shen Xi. However, after Mother Shen's explanation, Su Hang quietly retracted the hand he had half-way outstretched and silently hit his red envelopes in his pocket. But, well, he still needed to coax his wife, so he said: "From now on, I'll give you red envelopes every year until we grow old."
"I was joking, ah. How old do you think I am? Why would I be greedy for some red envelopes." Seeing Su Hang's serious expression, Shen Xi grinned and explained things to him.
Why can't you be greedy for red envelopes as an adult? Su Hang was six years older than Shen Xi, yet he felt incredibly happy when he received an envelope. So he insisted: "I'll still give you a red envelope. Every new year's, until we grow old."
Shen Xi's eyes brimmed with emotion, and she gave Su Hang a solemn nod.
Seeing Shen Xi smile, Su Hang immediately felt warm. Sure enough, waking up early on the first day of the new year really does bring good luck.
"See?" Mother Shen poked Father Shen again.
"Humph!" Father Shen childishly pouted. It's just some measly red envelopes, ah. I've given my entire Shen family fortune to my wife! He definitely will never admit that he couldn't compare to Su Hang.
The Shen family hadn't planned anything for the first day of the new year. So after breakfast, the four began to think about how to spend their time. Mother Shen suggested that since there were four of them, they should play mahjong.
Everyone agreed and set up a table on the balcony on the second floor to play mahjong and drink coffee.
Su Hang hadn't played mahjong very much, so he usually lost. But he didn't mind. As long as the other three people with him were happy, he was happy. After seeing that Su Hang didn't mind losing, Father Shen came up with an idea. As he shuffled the tiles, he suddenly said: "Let's make a bet."
When Mother Shen and Shen Xi heard this, they immediately knew that Father Shen wanted to make trouble. Su Hang, on the other hand, obediently asked like a well-behaved child: "What's the bet?"
"Do you agree?" Father Shen's expression lit up.
"Sure." Su Hang replied. As long as you're happy.
"Then," Father Shen excitedly said: "Let's play ten more rounds. Whoever wins the most will gain the privilege to name and have their surname be handed down to Shen Xi and Su Hang's first child."
Mother Shen laughed, but Shen Xi wasn't happy. "Dad, aren't you just bullying him? This is the first time Su Hang played mahjong, and he hadn't even played more than a few rounds. Bullying a man much younger than you..."
Shen Xi and Father Shen's surname was both Shen, so if either one of them won, the child would be surnamed Shen. What's more, since Mother Shen had changed her surname to Shen when she married in, the bet will essentially be three to one. Shen Xi felt that her father really was bullying her husband, ah.
"Then, are you siding with Su Hang, or will you be helping your dear old father?" Father Shen stared at her.
"I..." Shen Xi was speechless. Is this a problem every married daughter faced? It's like that age-old question on whether you'd help your mother or wife if they both fell into the river. How can you answer such questions?
"It's alright, listen to dad." Su Hang actually didn't care all that much about the matter. Su Hang had no attachment to the surname Su, so even if all his children were to be surnamed Shen, then he wouldn't mind.
"Then that's settled. Come on, come on. Let's start the first round." Father Shen began distributing the tiles. Even if it was three to one, it wasn't definite that he would win. Ah, what should I name my first grandchild?
After the first round, Father Shen told Su Hang: "jiāyóu."
(T/N: good luck, fighting, ganbatte. I don't really know how to properly convey this.)
Su Hang nodded with a smile and told Father Shen that he would work hard.
In the third round, Father Shen began to speak out: "Wife, what do you think we should name our first grandson?"
Mother Shen gave him a glance that quieted Father Shen back down. Su Hang remained silent the entire time and continued playing.
In the fourth round, Father Shen felt safe enough to believe that he would win the bet. So he said to Shen Xi: "Xiao Xi, give birth to a daughter first, and then just leave her here. Dad missed the days when you were still a child, ah. How lovely that time was..."
"Ha, so not only are you putting your surname on the child, but you're also going to take them away!" Mother Shen said in surprise.
"Of course, I'll teach her well and give her all the Shen company in the future. Xiao Xi is great at whatever she does, but she simply doesn't have the talent when it comes to business. This time, I'll cultivate the child young." Father Shen explained as he started the fifth round.
Su Hang looked at his thirteen tiles and thought about Father Shu's words. If his first child was a daughter, then she would definitely be as lovely as Shen Xi. How can he just give her to his father-in-law? She has to stay with her father and make up for his regret of missing out on his wife's childhood, ah.
"Zi-mo~~" Su Hang calmly pushed his tiles.
(T/N: a mahjong term directly translated to 'self-pick' I don't know how to play mahjong, and it really isn't needed in the story so...I'm not going to explain. All I know is that he wins lol. But the next few lines are going to be painful for the mahjong players out there because I literally don't know what I'm translating. Sorry.)
"Oh, what good luck." Father Shen commented. After seeing Su Hang lose in mahjong all morning, he considered Su Hang's unexpected win to be as lucky as stepping on dog shit.
On the seventh round, Su Hang was close to winning. All he needed was someone to place a four of a kind. He looked at his tiles, then monotonously calculated the 5,0000 possibilities of everyone's hands. Su Hang calculated that father Shen should have the tiles Su Hang needed to win.
"Four of a kind."
"Hu." Su Hang pushed his tiles forward once more.
(T/N: What you say to complete a winning hand at mahjong)
Father Shen glanced at Su Hang. Su Hang did his best to display an 'I'm-just-incredibly-lucky-today' expression.
"Are you good at math?" Father Shen thought that this guy might be counting tiles.
(T/N: Like in poker when you count the cards to cheat.)
"Dad, I studied business administration and finance in university." Su Hang replied with a smile.
Shen Xi and Mother Shen glanced at each other, then quietly shuffled the tiles. They decided not to help either side.
After ten rounds, Father Shen glared at Su Hang over his rice bowl. Su Hang bravely picked up his chopsticks and placed a few vegetables into Shen Xi's bowl, secretly happy that he managed to 'regain custody of their daughter.'
On the second day of the new year, Su Hang and Shen Xi went to the orphanage in Qingan with a load of gifts. The children still remembered the older sister who came to the orphanage not long ago to give them clothes and school supplies. Now, that same older sister had come to gift them toys, making them all overjoyed.
Su Hang and the dean sat under the tree and chatted while Shen Xi played with the children in the distance. The dean commented: "Shen Xi seems to like children quite a lot."
"Nn." Seeing Shen Xi's smiling face that was a bright as the children's, Su Hang couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth.
"Sure enough, people still need a family." The dean looked at Su Hang's smile and sighed.
Su Hang turned towards her quizzically.
"No matter how successful their careers are, kids who come from orphanages will still lack a sense of security." The dean explained. "That's why whenever a child leaves the orphanage, I'd tell them that they should make lots of friends and fall in love. I hoped they could create a home of their own. I used to worry about you, did you know? You're so boring, ah. I was afraid that you wouldn't be able to find a girlfriend. But who knew that you would actually end up tremendously lucky and find such a wonderful girl like Shen Xi.?"
"I feel the same." Su Hang turned back towards Shen Xi, feeling as if just by looking at her, he would be able to touch the greatest happiness of life.
"Every time you came back for a visit, I was both happy and sad." The dean suddenly said.
"Sad?" Su Hang frowned.
"You think I don't know? You only come back to the orphanage when you encounter something difficult." The dean chuckled. "Although your face has been paralyzed since you were a child and you never say anything, I watched you grow up, ah. I can tell whether you're happy and when you're not."
Whenever Su Hang was in a bad mood, he would do one of two things. Either he would go to the coffee shop Shen Xi opened, or he would go back to the orphanage. The former had the warmth of the woman he loved, while the latter was the place he lived in the longest. Back when Su Hang still hadn't married Shen Xi, this orphanage was his home.
"Visit often with Shen Xi, alright? Don't just donate from the shadows." The dean told Su Hang with a smile.
"Nn." Su Hang smiled back.
After chatting awhile, the dean stood up and went to work on something else. Su Hang watched Shen Xi play with the children for a while, but Shen Xi soon led them back inside to teach them how to sing. Left alone, Su Hang soon got bored and figured he could visit the storehouse where he used to live.
He had been the only one to live in this small warehouse over ten years ago, so when he opened the door, his single bed and desk were covered in dust. His gaze immediately fell on his unfinished diary, which was among several other books. The last time he wrote on it was before his marriage, and he hadn't been able to pen down much because he hadn't been quite sure what to write. But now, he knew.
Su Hang picked up the notebook. He skillfully opened the notebook on the last page while taking a ballpoint pen from a nearby pen holder. However, when his eyes fell on the last page of his diary, the pen on Su Hang's hand slipped and fell to the ground.
The man didn't pick it up. Instead, he clutched at the yellowed diary and grinned like a child who had eaten the sweetest candy.
November 5th, 2017. There's going to be a rainstorm.
There were two happy smiles drawn next to the entry, then a phrase. The starkly different handwriting made it clear that the person who drew the faces and wrote the phrase was not the original owner of this diary.
[Today, we got married. You don't need to write such silly diaries in the future, alright? Because from now on, I'll be with you, whether you're happy or sad.]
It turns out, happiness came earlier than he expected.
Su Hang closed the notebook and walked out of the warehouse. He was going to tell the dean that she didn't need to keep the single bed in the warehouse because it would never be used again.
"Where have you been?" Shen Xi, who was sitting where Su Hang had sat a few minutes ago, turned around and looked at him. It was early spring, and the camphor tree above was already sprouting. However, these bright buds couldn't compare to Shen Xi's vibrant and sparkling eyes.
Su Hang quickly walked towards her and, under Shen Xi's surprised eyes, bent down and kissed his wife, his happiness.
I know you love me, so you don't need to go on your tiptoes anymore. I'm willing to bend for you forever.
"Ah, eeewww....." The children who wanted to approach them all ran away squealing.
Shen Xi pushed Su Hang away and looked towards the running children in embarrassment.